Cooperstown confident in Hall of Fame's future

Anne Delaney

Thursday

Mar 27, 2008 at 12:01 AMMar 27, 2008 at 4:17 PM

Hall of Fame officials and some members of Cooperstown's business community said Wednesday they aren't concerned about the health of the 69-year-old community institution in the wake of longtime President Dale Petroskey's resignation.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, three years removed from a $20 million renovation and expansion project, now faces a number of questions over its leadership and finances.

? The village's leading tourist attraction just lost longtime President Dale Petroskey over his financial management decisions.

? The expansion project to date has failed to boost significantly the Hall's annual attendance, even with the help of last summer's record Induction Weekend crowd of 70,000 for Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn.

? And records show the Hall ran a nearly $2 million deficit in 2006, the last year for which IRS Form 990 figures are available.

Yet Hall of Fame officials and some members of Cooperstown's business community said Wednesday they aren't concerned about the health of the 69-year-old community institution in the wake of Petroskey's resignation after nearly nine years on the job.

“They're well endowed and they'd exist if they didn't open their doors,” said Al O'Brien, a partner in the Cooperstown Motel south of the village on Route 28. “They're going to be a bulwark and they're well managed.”

In a news release issued Tuesday, the Hall of Fame said Petroskey “failed to exercise proper fiduciary responsibility and it follows other business judgments that were not in the best interest of the National Baseball of Fame and Museum.”

On Wednesday, acting president Jeff Idelson said that according to the Hall's executive board, Petroskey “made business judgments that did not work well with the Hall of Fame.”

Idelson declined to elaborate on the business judgments, citing confidentiality, but he did reiterate that none of Petroskey's judgments were criminal or for personal gain. The Hall reported on its IRS form that Petroskey's salary in 2006 was $305,000.

The Hall of Fame is coming off a 2006 fiscal year that was the only one to run a deficit in the last seven years. According to the Hall of Fame's Internal Revenue Service 990 form, which is filed by tax exempt non-profit organizations, there was a nearly $2 million deficit for 2006.

Idelson said the deficit was actually smaller once what he called $1.5 million in write-off assets are taken into account. That would put the overall losses in the range of $450,000, he said.

He attributed the deficit to the Hall of Fame inducting 17 new members in 2006, many of them players from the old Negro Leagues, and to a slow attendance year aggravated by the June 2006 flooding in Central New York.

Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce executive director John Bullis said he doesn't anticipate long-term effects because of Petroskey's resignation. Bullis said reservations in the village are ahead of schedule for 2008.

The reputation of Cooperstown and the Hall of Fame will keep people coming, he said.

“People can speculate on this ad infinitum, but the bottom line is the Hall is very well known and respected in the world of baseball and tourism,” Bullis said.

O'Brien also isn't worried. The hotel has been in his family for nearly 50 years. The 77-year-old retired English professor took over the business from his parents and runs it with his son, Ed.

Framed autographed pictures of Hall of Famers including Ted Williams, Yogi Berra, Enos Slaughter and Frank Robinson hang on the walls of the small lobby. There are several photos of Babe Ruth, who shook O'Brien's hand during a visit to Doubleday Field in 1939.

O'Brien said the game has drastically changed since then, and he's more concerned about the changes to Cooperstown.

“We are the financial backbone of this county, and I think we're losing sight of that fact,” O'Brien said. “I remember when you could go downtown and find a place to park. The government people who moved here and got into village politics… they're changing Cooperstown into the place they fled and it's lost its small-town charm.”

Observer-Dispatch

HALL STATS

Deficit

? In 2006, the last year for which IRS Form 990 documents are available, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum spent $13.28 million and took in only $11.35 million, records show.

? Hall officials say the actual deficit once write-off assets are considered, however, is not more than $1.9 million but actually $450,000.

Attendance

? The Hall underwent a $20 million and renovation project between 2002 and 2005.

? To date, attendance has risen only slightly since the project’s completion.

? In 2007, the Hall reported 352,119 visitors including about 70,000 on Induction Weekend.

? That’s better than 2006 but still far short of the all-time high of 410,000 set in 1989, a year that included the inductions of Johnny Bench and Carl Yastrzemski.

Expenses

? Compensation of officers, directors and key employees: $1 million.

? Salaries and wages of other workers: $3.5 million.

? Exhibit expenses: $1.49 million.

? Induction Weekend expenses: $994,000.

? Supplies: $616,197.

? Promotions and advertising: $399,752.

? Legal fees: $136,280.

Revenues

? Admissions: $2.88 million.

? Membership dues, assessments: $1.4 million.

? Traveling exhibitions: $804,000.

Source: Hall’s 2006 Form 990

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